Has it really been 20 years?

[The_Z_man]

As a student of history, I have to say I was disappointed that there has been very little discussion of what happened 20 years ago this year. The 1989 Tour had one of the best finishes ever. The entire race was a great story. Greg LeMond coming back from being shot and a series of injuries after, Fignon finding his form again, Delgado trying to repeat, and getting lost at the start house. It was great from the prologue to the Champs Elysee.

That year ESPN (Yes, ESPN used to carry cycling) every day to see the wrap up of the stage. In the times before every computer had a high speed internet connection, that's how we followed it. I remember LeMond winning the time trial stage from Dinard to Rennes. I remember Fignon attacking, and putting a few more seconds into him on L'Alpe. The one memory I don't have is of watching the final time trial and not knowing who won. Alas, I had to go to boy scout camp that day, and was shocked to hear LeMond actually won it all, but I couldn't watch it on tape (yes, VHS tape) until a week later.

Being on ADR, LeMond had nobody to help him. It would have been like Lance coming back to Skil-Shimano. Super-U was a powerhouse, and expected to deliver Larry Fignon to Paris in yellow, and wear it on the top step. Well they got the first half right.

That tour was one for the ages, and it was what really hooked me on cycling.

Please, can we keep this from degenerating into a "LeMond is a crazy old man" or "We now know how Fignon found his form" thread. Thanks.

 

[ak-zaaf]

Belgian tv had a beautiful documentary last sunday on the ADR team in the 1989 tour.
Mart Smeets wrote a book on that tour this year.

In the low countries it's not being forgotten, that's for sure

 

[Johnny Colnago]

You need to post this to r.b.r. most of the people here didn't even know what a bicycle was until their messiah from texas rose from the dead. Hell I bet half of them aren't much older than the olsen twins. lol

 

[ak-zaaf]

You need to post this to r.b.r. most of the people here didn't even know what a bicycle was until their messiah from texas rose from the dead. Hell I bet half of them aren't much older than the olsen twins. lol

yes, staying on topic is hard for some people...

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Great memories, of a great great Tour.

Funny that you should mention the final TT - as I was asked by some non cycling friends if I thought Lemond could pull back the 50 seconds and after some thought - and some beer's - I said yes.

There was no 'live' coverage back then, so I went to a local football game when I overheard a guy behind me who was listening to the radio say to his friend that Lemond had won the Tour.
I turned around and said "Lemond....the Tour?" and he said "ya, by 8 second's".
Even though I had said it the night before it seemed incredible - but then again the whole Tour had been incredible, not just the final day.

 

[TRDean]

I remember it well too!! I was standing in line following a race when someone said Lemond Won!!! Everyone was psyched!! Lots of yelling, laughing, and high fiving!!! Too bad my little race didn't go as well lol!!

 

[slowoldman]

Great memories of that race. I can remember fighting with my dad over control of the TV. I wanted to watch the Tour coverage and my dad wanted to watch baseball. Thankfully I won. I can remember counting down the seconds and yelling and jumping up and down and my dad just shaking his head.

You have to understand my dad was a corn fed midwestern boy that was much like Dave Stollers dad in Breaking Away.

"I don't want anymore of those inni foods,"

 

[The_Z_man]

You have to understand my dad was a corn fed midwestern boy that was much like Dave Stollers dad in Breaking Away.

I was growing up in backwoods PA at the time. I know what that's like. The good thing was that I sucked my parents in. Now they watch the tour every day, usually come down for the Philly bike race, and my mom is talking about going to the Univest GP.

If it wasn't for that tour, they would have spent a lot of years shaking their heads at me.

That year Greg pulled off the Tour/Worlds double. ESPN also had a 30 min show about the worlds. I wasn't home during the day, so, again, they recorded it for me, but didn't rewind the tape. When I turned it on, I saw LeMond had won. I still watched it all the way through hoping he wouldn't get beat at the line by Sean Kelly the second time I watched it.

 

[Johnny Colnago]

yes, staying on topic is hard for some people...

I recommend Zipp Wheels if you're going to be doing mostly time trials.

 

[franciep10]

Lemond has been and will always be my favourite cyclist of all time, I was a fan of cycling from 86, after 89 though I stopped doing triathlons and started focusing on cycling. That was the most exciting tour I've ever watched.

 

[dgodave]

I recommend Zipp Wheels if you're going to be doing mostly time trials.

Well, equipment clearly played a big role that day.
.
But thats one of the things I like about cycling: its mostly man, but machine does matter too, and real world course conditions. I many ways its one of the least controlled sports there is.
.

 

[FFWally]

two great memories of that tour.

The first was hearing my roommate screaming in his office as the news of LeMonds win came over an old message board.
Yeah he was online in 1989. Now a writere for PC magazine and a huge cycling fan. David, said I can't ****ing believe it. Of course we sat in the living room watching it several hours later holding our breaths as the seconds ticked down.
Then I went out and rode for 4 hours at White Rock Lake, as did just about every other Dallas cyclist at the time. We all just rolled around talking about how great it was...

the second was about a week earlier while driving through Louisiana with 2 bikes on the roof of my girlfriends car. I had to stop for gas in a really small town and of course shorts with shaved legs was not exactly the norm... so, I go in and there are about 10 rajun cajuns standing around watching the tour!!! In their creole accents they said, "you like the LeMond?", of course I said yes, and they gave me a coke and said to watch the last ten minutes on I think it was CBS.

I got in the car 30 minutes later, refreshed, happy and ready for a ride that would not come for another 4 hours.

That was a great tour...

 

[Carboncrank]

Lemond has been and will always be my favourite cyclist of all time, I was a fan of cycling from 86, after 89 though I stopped doing triathlons and started focusing on cycling. That was the most exciting tour I've ever watched.

54.545 km/h (34.52 mph).. suspicious... very suspicious....

had to get his face in the tour didn't he. pushes the really pretty stupid idea that you can infer doping by measuring the racers in mountain climb in the middle of a stage race.

sigh... i like him back then too.

 

[180mmCrank]

Cycle Sport Mag (August) has a really detailed stage by stage breakdown of the 89 TdF. Brings back lots of memories reading it.

I watched the final ITT live on Channel 4 in the UK. I just remember thinking there is no way Le Mond can do this...and then watching Fignon disintegrate.

Amazing

 

[Dr. Maserati]

54.545 km/h (34.52 mph).. suspicious... very suspicious....

had to get his face in the tour didn't he. pushes the really pretty stupid idea that you can infer doping by measuring the racers in mountain climb in the middle of a stage race.

sigh... i like him back then too.

Sigh - there is a seperate forum for this however it really reveals a lot about your blind loyalty when you show disrespect to go against the wishes of another poster.....

.....
Please, can we keep this from degenerating into a "LeMond is a crazy old man" or "We now know how Fignon found his form" thread. Thanks.

To help answer your suspicion which has been raised often before.....

Does tailwind means anything to you?

I will help you with the power calculations:

Greg Lemond ITT 1989: 420-430 Watts (5.65 W/kg)
Lance Armstrong 2004 Alpe d'Huez: 466 Watts (6.5 W/kg)
Contador - Verbier 2009: 413 W- 434 W (6.8- 7.1 W/kg)
Pantani – Alpe d’Huez 1997: 403 W (7.2 W/kg)

Here I am not taking into account the time to exhaustion which is a big factor on the power that an athlete can perform. In other words it is harder to maintain a high power for longer times. Look at the short time for the ITT for Greg Lemond. That is completely believable. Now look at the numbers on Watts/Kg that all other athletes have. Above 6 W/kg the numbers start being seriously suspicious.

Now here is a link at Greg's take on his numbers:
http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/oralhistory/lemond.html

Read the Lemond section or the 'Lemond Decline' section- everything is covered if you have something new to add to the debate that is the place to do it - not here.

 

[pmcg76]

Cycle Sport Mag (August) has a really detailed stage by stage breakdown of the 89 TdF. Brings back lots of memories reading it.

I watched the final ITT live on Channel 4 in the UK. I just remember thinking there is no way Le Mond can do this...and then watching Fignon disintegrate.

Amazing

Was going to mention that article, really brought back the memories for me as well. This was the Tour that got me into cycling, being Irish I followed the great victory of Stephen Roche 87 but never got into it until this race, legendary.

My favourite team was PDM with Kelly and Martin Earley but until I read the atricle in Cycle Sport I never knew ther had been so much conflict within the PDM team. I mean, they had 4 in the Top ten, all the jerseys except Yellow, team classification & 4 stages and that was with infighting, maybe that is why they didnt actually get somebody on the podium. Sad to think that 2 of that team, Rudy Dhaenans(who rolled a tyre on the final corner with a stage victory in sight) & Johannes Draaijer have now passed on.

They sure dont make them like this anymore as there was only a handful of bunch sprints to contest stages, there was enough action for 10 Michael Bay movies, I think the first bunch sprint for a stage win was in the second week when Mathieu Hermans won. Kelly won his fourth green without taking a stage. How about race leader Fignon & GC contender Charly Mottet going on a 2 man break on Bastille day on a flat stage!!! When you looks back at the 89 race, it reallys brings home how pathetic this years race was.

I agree this race should be receiving far more attention on its 20th anniversary but has got scant mention other than the Cycle Sport article, wonder why? Oh, somebody else is dominating cycling coverage at the expense of everything else connected with the sport, as always.

 

[Psalmon]

There was no 'live' coverage back then, so I went to a local football game when I overheard a guy behind me who was listening to the radio say to his friend that Lemond had won the Tour.

Make one appreciate Versus.

 

[richwagmn]

You need to post this to r.b.r. most of the people here didn't even know what a bicycle was until their messiah from texas rose from the dead. Hell I bet half of them aren't much older than the olsen twins. lol

Why turn a thread that has NOTHING to do with LA or AC into a ****ing match?

 

[runninboy]

They sure dont make them like this anymore as there was only a handful of bunch sprints to contest stages, there was enough action for 10 Michael Bay movies, I think the first bunch sprint for a stage win was in the second week when Mathieu Hermans won. Kelly won his fourth green without taking a stage. How about race leader Fignon & GC contender Charly Mottet going on a 2 man break on Bastille day on a flat stage!!! When you looks back at the 89 race, it reallys brings home how pathetic this years race was.

QUOTE]

I loved the 89 tour and not just because the way it finished.
All this malarky about GC men not attacking well here is proof they used to.
I seriously thought Mottet would be the guy to beat.Back then the racing was attack & counterattack every day it seemed. Nowadays there is too much concern about not exposing yourself, bide your time until it is more advantageous to attack. Too conservative of an approach to winagainst a stronger opponent.
The BAD thing about the 89 tour was Lemond mouthing off about Fignon mouthing off. I am a big fan of Gregs but i cringed when they put that on TV.
I remember Greg out looking for Fignon to give him what for, it was pretty funny actually.

To those not old enough to remember, in todays language Fignon 'dissed im

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Make one appreciate Versus.

Acually - I used to love the half hour on the British station Channel 4
- Phil & Paul were brilliant (what happened them...)...

If anyone remembers that coverage they will remember sitting in waiting for this! .... and I still have a 'tape' of this!

But it is nice to have lots of coverage options!

 

[avanti]

It would be nice to a final day's time trial again in the TdF.

 

[Velo Dude]

I've got to think that aero-bars and an aero-helmet would have made up for that eventual eight seconds that Fignon lost by. He must still be kicking himself over that decision.

 

[psychlist]

I was traveling in Europe during this tour. I watched it live on TV in a hotel in Amsterdam. The best part was that it was the only room with a tv that I saw during my whole trip and it just happened to be on when I checked in.

For me, it was surreal.

I also think it was a huge marketing moment for Giro helmets.

 

[Azdak6]

In all the "guts and glory", it is always interesting to see what role pure chance plays as well.

As in a 73 km time trial (never repeated afterwards) on Stage 5 that put Lemond in yellow and made him start to believe he could win.

Still, I would hope that, next to the yellow jersey in the trophy case, Lemond has a bronzed set of aero bars.

I was watching some other show on whatever network station was doing the weekend recaps that afternoon, waiting for the tape delay coverage to come on. The announcer broke in at one point and said "congratulations to american greg lemond for winning his second Tour de France". I couldn't believe it--and, quite frankly, after watching it happen later, I still couldn't believe it.

I recorded all the network shows, so I still have all the old VHS tapes--some w/commercials, some not. I have watched that tape probably 50 times and I still am surprised each time at the victory.

During this year's tour, they showed a few seconds of the final scene after Fignon collapses on the pavement, only from a different camera angle. Again, I have watched that scene dozens of times and never realized that Lemond was standing right next to Fignon at the time.

 

[Indurain]

I kind of felt sorry for Fignon at the time. The guy attack, and attacked and attacked. He made the race exciting. I thought he deserved the win. When Fignon was healthy no one was more exciting to wach (other than perhaps Chiapucci). But Lemond played it to perfection. He was a pioneer to the sport and also deserved the win.